The length of the previous contract, which expired in 2009, was also five years. The recently signed deal runs through 2014.
“It’s the largest international television deal that WWE has ever done,” Andrew Whittaker, President, WWE International, told SportBusiness.
Under the new agreement, 104 hours of first-run programming will be aired on the Sky 1 channel on top of the content delivered via Sky Sports.
An additional feature of the new contract is the offering of WWE programming in high-definition.
“Sky is quite advanced in their delivery in HD programming and WWE being delivered in HD is extremely positive for our viewers in the UK. The property comes across very, very strongly. HD takes us to a whole new delivery level,” Whitaker said.
The WWE Global President added that some aspects of the previous deal will now be enhanced, “Our mobile deployment in the UK is significantly larger now then it was before, as it’s our online activity… Obviously, the pay-per-view continues.”
